Two Men Plead Not Guilty In Oklahoma City Bombing

By JOHN KIFNER

Published: August 16, 1995

OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 15—
Appearing in public for the first time since he was hustled grim-faced in an orange jumpsuit from a small-town courthouse, Timothy J. McVeigh assumed a soldier's at-ease position today as a prosecutor read 11 charges in the Oklahoma City bombing, each carrying a possible penalty of death.

"Sir, I plead not guilty," Mr. McVeigh said in a strong, clear voice when the Federal Magistrate, Ronald Howland, asked for his response.

A few minutes later Terry L. Nichols, the second defendant in the bombing case, took his turn in the formal arraignment proceedings in the Federal District Courthouse, where hallways are still being repaired from the blast across the street that killed at least 167 people.

The two separate arraignment proceedings this morning, each lasting only 10 minutes, in which the defendants entered their not-guilty pleas to the conspiracy, bombing and murder indictment handed up last week, marked a new stage in the bloodiest domestic terrorist case in the nation's history.

Defense lawyers now, for example, will be entitled, during the pretrial period called discovery, to review the mass of testimony and evidence the Government has gathered in its nearly four-month-long investigation. Meetings have begun to iron out how this is to be done and other technical details.

But the actual trial itself will not begin for at least six months, prosecutors say, and probably later as defense lawyers seek to change the venue to another city and sever the cases so they can be tried separately.

The tall, thin Mr. McVeigh, wearing a prison-issue short-sleeve khaki shirt and trousers, appeared animated as he talked to his lawyers. Facing the judge, he slipped into a stance, hands clasped behind his back, feet slightly spread, that is common on any military parade ground or in any barracks.

Mr. Nichols, wearing a blue sport coat, a blue open-neck shirt, khaki trousers and polished brown shoes, seemed more subdued. His brother James, freed from any connection with the case, sat in the courtroom along with their mother and another brother.

Mr. McVeigh and Mr. Nichols, being held in separate isolation cells in El Reno Federal Prison outside of town, were brought to the courthouse at dawn under heavy security in different vans and held in isolation areas before the arraignment.

Both were soldiers at Fort Riley, Kan. A third member of their unit, Michael Fortier, plead guilty to lesser charges under an agreement with prosecutors last week and is expected to be the star witness in the trial. Mr. Fortier is being held in a United States Marshal's detention facility in Texas.

The front rows of the courtroom this morning were taken up by courthouse employees who had been let in early, leaving Mr. Nichols's relatives to crowd into a back bench. Mr. Nichols's lawyer, Michael Tigar, pointed to this as an example of the difficulty of holding a fair trial in this city where so many people feel personally affected by the bombing.

James Nichols, pursued outside the courthouse by a horde of television cameras, said the bombing was "a Government conspiracy, it's very obvious."

"It was to help them get the terrorism bill passed," he added.

Photos: James Nichols, brother of Terry L. Nichols, a defendant in the Oklahoma City bombing case, left the Federal Courthouse there yesterday and said the bombing was "a Government conspiracy."; Joseph Hartzler, the Federal prosecutor in the Oklahoma City bombing case, gestured yesterday as he responded to reporters' questions about the case. Mr. Hartzler, seated in an electric cart, has multiple sclerosis. (Photographs by Associated Press)